Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6 (1902).djvu/73

Rh ice near Groais Island, in the same locality as the 'Terra Nova,' and remained beset till the 6th of April, when, after much sawing and blasting of the ice, she got free, only to be again caught in the floe off Partridge Point (White Bay), remaining fast till the end of the month; finally, after sundry other adventures, arriving safely at St. John's on the 5th of May with 19,605 Seals.

The Gulf sealing was practically a failure. Four vessels, namely, the 'Harlaw,' 'Panther,' 'Kite,' and 'Hope,' took part in this section of the voyage; the 'Harlaw' and the 'Panther' only securing 400 and 4855 Seals respectively; the 'Kite' got jammed in the ice off Prince Edward's Island, and at one time was in a situation of great peril, but eventually reached Channel in safety on the 27th April with a cargo of 8216 Seals; of these 900 were old Harps and 400 old Hoods, which yielded a weight of fat and pelts about equal to 10,000 young Harps. From the 13th March to the 23rd she is reported to have killed twice the number of Seals she could possibly carry, but frightful weather setting in, she only succeeded in getting 7000 young Harps on board. The remaining vessel, the 'Hope,' was unfortunately driven on shore on Byron Island, one of the Magdalen group, and became a total wreck, with 5000 Seals on board. Happily her crew of 194 men landed safely on the island, whence they were subsequently rescued by the 'Greenland,' which departed from St. John's for that purpose. The 'Hope' was rather a notable vessel. In 1873 she sailed from Peterhead on her first whaling voyage, commanded by Capt. John Gray, a member of a family celebrated for generations as successful whalers, and was employed in 1882 in the rescue of the crew of Mr. Leigh Smith's yacht, the 'Eira,' which foundered off Cape Flora, Franz Josef Land, in the previous year; in 1892 she passed into the ownership of Messrs. Baine Johnson and Co., and has been since that time employed in the Newfoundland sealing.

In addition to the young Harps got in the Gulf fishery being, like those off the east coast, smaller than usual, the failure of the fishery in this locality was also due to the heavy gale early in April which proved destructive to the 'Hope,' broke up the whelping ice, and either swept the young Seals into the sea, or separated them from their parents, so dispersing the pack that the steamers could not come near them in any quantity. Any